Black breaks out in KU's 86-64 win over Georgetown

Tarik Black scored 17 points off the bench Saturday to lead Kansas to an 86-64 home win against Georgetown.

LAWRENCE — Tarik Black jerked his hands backward, just a half-second before a whistle from the referee.

With 5:53 left in the first half, the Kansas big man had reached in to poke the ball away from Georgetown’s Joshua Smith 18 feet from the basket, and this was the same way many of his previous games had reached disappointing endings. After picking up an earlier foul, Black knew a second would send him to the bench and end what had been a promising start.

So when Black turned to the official, one could almost see his muscles relax as he realized that Georgetown coach John Thompson III had called timeout.

Black was going to get to stay in. And he certainly did the most with that opportunity.

The 6-foot-9 forward more than doubled his season high in scoring, breaking out with 17 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting in the Jayhawks’ 86-64 rout over Georgetown on Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.

“He’s trying so hard,” KU coach Bill Self said. “You knew eventually he was going to kick (his slump). Certainly he was great today.”

Black, who lost his starting spot to Joel Embiid three games ago, never had been able to find a rhythm because of fouls. Coming into the game, the Memphis transfer had averaged a whistle for every 3.6 minutes of game time and also had more personals (27) than rebounds (24).

That didn’t deter him in workouts, though. Self commented that Black was one of KU’s best players in practice earlier this week, with the coach believing his attitude might have even improved after he lost his starting spot.

“I knew coming here that it wasn’t going to be perfect. I’m new here,” Black said. “I played in college for a while, but I had to learn the system. I knew there were things I was going to go through.

“Also, it made it easier, because I had played before, so I knew what I was capable of the whole time. It’s just a matter of finding it in this system, and having faith that the time was going to come.”

Black did a little of everything for KU (8-3), finishing shots inside while also muscling up against GU’s physical players to secure defensive rebounds.

His six rebounds were his most since the opener against Louisiana Monroe, and his two blocks in 20 minutes also were a season best.

“Whenever we thought we were making a step towards cutting into the lead,” Thompson said, “he would get a rebound (or) he’d get a three-point play.”

Black might have felt a little more comfortable with familiar faces in the crowd. His parents, Lawrence and Judith, made it to the Fieldhouse on Saturday to watch him play.

The forward had become accustomed to looking up into the stands to see his mother during his games at Memphis. She always sat in the same seat, and there were times she’d even give him pointers when he looked up at her.

“Having her here this time, it was just special,” Black said. “It’s what I was used to.”

Black’s emergence opens up a new set of possibilities for KU moving forward.

Even without Perry Ellis, who played just 12 minutes after getting elbowed by GU’s Nate Lubick early in the second half, KU’s frontcourt was dominant. Embiid contributed 17 points on 4-for-4 shooting with eight rebounds, while Jamari Traylor added eight points and seven rebounds while notching his own perfect shooting night (3-for-3).

“We need to play through our bigs. That’s the strength of our team,” Self said. “We haven’t been a really good passing team so far to take advantage of that, and today I’m not saying we were a great passing team, but at least we got guys touches.”

The biggest reason for KU’s efficient offensive day was its ability to get to the free-throw line. The Jayhawks made 31 of their 46 freebies, as they tied the highest number of free throws taken by a KU team in the Self era.

Self said afterwards that some of Black’s previous issues were self-afflicted, while others were simply a result of bad luck.

Either way, he was happy to see the senior’s perseverance pay off.

“He didn’t do anything spectacular. He just played to his strengths,” Self said. “If we can keep getting production out of him and Joel, we’ll be a hard team to deal with.”

ELLIS PROGNOSIS GOOD — Self said Ellis, who left the game at the 18:15 mark of the second half and didn’t return, should be fine to return to practice soon after taking an elbow to the neck from Lubick.

After getting fouled, Ellis airballed a free throw by a few feet before checking out of the game and going to the locker room.

“I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know the medical term. But if he had a concussion, it’s very, very slight,” Self said. “But what he did, he got hit and bruised a nerve in his neck. And that’s caused the (equilibrium) problem. It’s something that he’ll be able to come back from, the doctors thought, in a very short period of time.”